breakingbadfandomcom-20200223-history
Walter White
Walter Hartwell White '''aka "Heisenberg'" is a very over-qualified High School chemistry teacher living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Walter's wife, Skyler, recently gave birth to their second child, Holly, a pregnancy that wasn't planned or expected. Their teenage son, Walt Jr., suffers from cerebral palsy. He founded ''Gray Matter Technologies with his friend, Elliott Schwartz, and dated his assistant, Gretchen. For reasons not yet explained, Walter suddenly left Gretchen during a vacation with her family, leaving her and his research behind. Gray Matter went on to become a highly successful company using Walter's research. Walter felt his work was stolen from him and bitterly blames Elliott and Gretchen for his lot in life, although the truth to his claim has not yet been verified. Season 1 Walt eventually went on to become a chemistry teacher at Sandia High School where his son, Walt Jr., also attends as a student. Financially, this job was not enough to support his family, so Walt took on a second job at a local car wash. Soon after his 50th birthday, Walt passed out while working at the car wash. He was then reluctantly rushed to the hospital via ambulance where he is later diagnosed with stage-three terminal lung cancer and given less than two years left to live. This causes a dramatic change in Walt's mind-mannered demeanor, leading him to decide that he was willing to go to extreme means in there effort of earning an inheritance for his family before his death. After being invited by his DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank, to accompany him on a live raid on a methamphetamine lab, Walt has circumstantial encounter with one of his former students, Jesse Pinkman, whom he finds out is a meth dealer who goes by the name "Captain Cook." With this information, Walt blackmails Jesse into helping him also enter the illegal drug trade on the production side, using his chemistry knowledge to cook remarkably potent "crystal" meth with Jesse to help him distribute it . Operating out of an RV in the desert, the two must defend themselves against two dealers, formerly Jesse's distributors, who accuse Walter of being a DEA agent. At first offering them the recipe to his crystal meth, Walter instead gasses them with phosphine gas and leaves them to suffocate in the RV, before driving away with an injured Jesse in tow . Walter and Jesse soon discover that one of the dealers is still alive, and restrain him in Jesse's basement. After a coin flip, Jesse is tasked with disposing of the dead dealer's body, and Walter with killing the other, a prospect that sickens him. Jesse dissolves the dead body in a bathtub of hydrofluoric acid, but the acid eats through the tub and the floor beneath it, spilling dissolved entrails in the hall . Meanwhile, Walter has begun providing food and a latrine to his prisoner, Krazy-8, whom he also confides in, attempting to find any excuse to leave him alive. Due to his illness, Walter passes out briefly while delivering food in one such instance, breaking a plate. Awakening later, Walter picks up the broken plate and goes to get the key to set Krazy-8 free. However, while upstairs, Walt has a sudden realization that there is a large sharp piece of the plate missing, which Krazy-8 has hidden. Realizing that Krazy-8 intends to kill him the second he sets him free, Walt decides that he has no choice but to kill the dealer, which he does by pulling back on the bike lock around his neck holding him in place until he chokes to death. Following the disposal of the body, Walter severs ties with Jesse . Elsewhere, Hank, has become aware of a powerful new drug producer in the region, finding a trail of evidence that lead's back to Walter and Jesse's cook site while also dealing with Walter's sister-in-law, Marie, who is an occasional shoplifter. At a dinner party with his family, Walter finally reveals his cancer. They implore him to visit specialist doctors and undergo chemotherapy. At first adamant to decide his own fate, to die honorably instead of suffering the indignities of chemotherapy side-effects, Walter finally agrees to treatment. He pretends to accept financial assistance from wealthy friends as a cover story to explain the source of payment for his chemotherapy. In reality, he approaches Jesse to rebuild their business arrangement and so pay for the treatments himself as a matter of pride. Jesse, unable to replicate Walter's recipe, accepts Walter's partnership and agrees to their clearly defined roles: Jesse the salesman and Walter the cook. Jesse learns that Walter has lung cancer and, realizing his goals of helping his family after his death, develops a newfound respect for him . Walt sends Jesse to negotiate with Tuco, a violent psychopath who has taken over local drug distribution. During their first meeting, Tuco refuses to pay up front for the product and savagely beats Jesse when he attempts to end the deal. With Jesse in the hospital, Walt confronts Tuco with the demand for up-front payment, using the pseudonym "Heisenberg." As Tuco prepares to assault him, Walt detonates a concealed explosive (Mercury(II) fulminate), blowing out the top floor of the hideout and intimidating Tuco into surrendering payment with a promise for future business . Jesse recovers from his wounds and the two resume cooking meth, this time circumventing the restrictions on over-the-counter pseudoephedrine products by stealing a large drum of methylamine from a chemical warehouse and using an alternate method of synthesis. Now able to produce four times as much crystal meth as before, the two begin steady business with the increasingly psychotic Tuco . "Heisenberg" The alias adopted by Walt as he moves deeper into the drug trade is taken from Werner Heisenberg, a German theoretical physicist who is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory. Even after Tuco’s death, Walt continues to use the alias with Jesse’s dealers, none of them being aware of his true identity. As Heisenberg, Walt’s prowess in cooking crystal meth has attracted the attention of a variety of sources, including drug cartels and the DEA. Originally seen as a “tweaker urban legend” by Hank, he soon comes to associate the name with the pure blue meth (aka "Blue Sky") that is prevalent in Albuquerque. When posing as Heisenberg during drug deals, Walt typically wears thick sunglasses, a black windbreaker and a black pork pie hat. Season 2 After killing one of his own deputies and having the DEA raid and shut down his operation in Albuquerqe, Tuco kidnaps Walter and Jesse, planning to take them to a superlab in Mexico. However, the two manage to incapacitate Tuco and escape . With Tuco out of the picture, Walt decides that it's time the two become the new meth kingpins, expanding into Tuco's old territory. Things seems to be on track until one of their dealers, Skinny Pete, is mugged, forcing Jesse to confront the perpetrators . One of the addicts is killed by the other, but Jesse mistakenly receives credit for the kill, earning him fear and respect and further solidifying "Heisenberg" in the area . Another dealer, Badger, is arrested by the DEA, forcing Walter to deal with a crooked lawyer named Saul Goodman who can offer only an expensive solution to keep Badger from snitching while also keeping him alive. In addition, Saul tracks down Walter and demands a cut of the meth profit in return for being Walter and Jesse's legal counsel and advisor in their drug operation, further eroding their income . Meanwhile, Gretchen, Walter's former lover and co-head of Gray Matter, discovers Walter has been lying to his family about Gray Matter paying for cancer treatment. She is horrified when an angry and bitter Walter blames her and her husband, Elliott, for becoming rich off his research, although she still keeps Walter's secret for his family's sake. Skyler goes back to work for Ted Beneke, her former boss who apparently groped her when drunk, forcing her to quit. She increasingly relies on Ted for emotional support due to Walter's constant absence and strange behavior. After Walter notices a large blotch on a scan of his chest, he believes the cancer has spread. Having only $16,000 remaining of the meth money after the numerous setbacks, he and Jesse spend several days in the desert cooking 38 pounds of meth to sell off before Walter dies . At the doctor, Walter discovers that the blotch is only a treatable side effect of the radiation and that his tumor has shrunk 80%. He plans to quit his meth partnership once the 38 pounds are sold off, but he finds himself bored with the return to his mundane life, finding pleasure only when he is distracted or dealing with dangerous situations. When one of Walter and Jesse's dealers, Combo, is killed by rival dealers, Jesse is sent spiraling into a drug addiction that drags Jane out of her sobriety. With their remaining dealers backing out, Saul uses his connections to introduce Walter and Jesse to a new distributor, a cautious yet successful man who is skeptical of Jesse. Gus reluctantly offers to buy Walter's products for 1.2 million dollars but offers him only a short time frame to deliver. Walter attempts to contact Jesse to complete the exchange, but he and Jane are incapacitated after an injection of heroin. Walter is forced to complete the trade himself just as Skyler goes into labor. He narrowly manages to complete the transaction, but he misses the birth of his daughter . Walter loses trust in Jesse and promises to give him his share of the payout only if he agrees to go sober. Jane threatens to blackmail Walter, prompting him to turn over Jesse's share of the money. The two agree to go their separate ways, but Walter feels obligated to help Jesse. After a coincidental meeting with Jane's father, Donald, he returns to Jesse, only to discover that he and Jane have taken heroin again . Walter ends up dragging Jesse to a drug rehabilitation clinic. Later, Walt is confronted by Skyler is who has finally discovered his numerous lives. She leaves him, even when Walt offers to tell her everything, saying, "I'm too scared to know." The next day, two airplanes collide in the sky right above Walt's house. Before any of the other wreckage reigns down, a pink teddy bear splashes directly into his swimming pool . Season 3 Trivia *Walt's car is a Pontiac Aztek with a very faded factory paint job. Category:Content Category:Characters